Pronunciation Problems

Arabs often mispronounce many sounds of English due to a lack of exposure to English as a foreign language. This research article focuses on pronunciation problems encountered by Arab undergraduate EFL learners. It uses questionnaires, recorded speech samples, and pronunciation tests as part of its methodology to analyze learners' performance orally through repetition drills to help participants articulate the sounds of English through Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Learning Management System. This research emphasizes the main question on the common problems encountered by EFL undergraduates with pronunciation skills. The study aims to train the students with pronunciation tests and phonemic inventory by repetition and imitation to overcome pronunciation miscues and fossilized miscues to enhance their pronunciation. This study is significant because it proposes feasible pedagogical techniques for imparting English sounds and initiating the learners to produce and acquire sounds more accurately, which will help Arab undergraduate EFL learners with their pronunciation problems. To achieve this goal, it proposes feasible pedagogical techniques to impart sounds of English and initiate the learners to produce and acquire sounds more accurately. One of the main findings of this research revealed that our EFL undergraduates have improved in their pronunciation through constant motivation and willingness to participate in the designed tests through Blackboard. Recommendations for further research would be on phonological awareness as an aid in learning EFL.

The purpose of this research is to identify few common pronunciation mistakes among Palestinian English major students in Hebron University and the factors that cause these problems. The paper discusses selected phonetic and phonological problems related to specific consonants and vowels besides problems related to pronunciation of consonant sequences. The participants of this study were 120 English major students from Hebron University. The researchers used a questionnaire and a recorded pronunciation test to collect the data. In addition to the previous instruments, interviews were conducted with eight students and two instructors. The findings of the study revealed that Hebron University English major students have difficulties in pronouncing English consonants that are not part vowels that have more than one pronunciation. During the interviews, the interviewees pointed various reasons for their errors and suggested some solutions to some of these pronunciation problems. Among the mispronunciation reasons mentioned are: interference from Arabic and the lack of correct models, exposure to native speakers, and practice. The researchers concluded that learners' errors are caused by several linguistic factors, such as the disparity between Arabic and English sound systems, the effect of spelling on pronunciation, the influence of the first language (L1) on the second language (L2), and English vowel inconsistency. Finally, ideas to overcome some of the pronunciation problems are suggested.

The purpose of this research is to identify few common pronunciation mistakes among Palestinian English major students in Hebron University and the factors that cause these problems. The paper discusses selected phonetic and phonological problems related to specific consonants and vowels besides problems related to pronunciation of consonant sequences. The participants of this study were 120 English major students from Hebron University. The instruments used for collecting the data were a questionnaire and a recorded pronunciation test. In addition to the previous instruments, interviews were conducted with eight students and two instructors. The findings of the study revealed that Hebron University English major students have difficulties in pronouncing English consonants that are not part of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) such as [ŋ], [p], [ɫ], [ɹ], [ʒ], [tʃ] (though some consider [ŋ], [ɫ], [ʒ], [tʃ] as allophonic variants and are used in the different dialects of Arabic), problems ...